The Consequences of a Snowing Separation
by Sara K M
Summary: David is forced to stay in Neverland. Emma convinces her Mary Margaret/Snow to return to Storybrooke, but ends up regretting it. She finds a way to reunite her parents.


THE CONSQUENCES OF A SNOWING SEPERATION

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Once Upon a Time.**_

**This is different from what I usually write. Definitely a tear – jerker. Also **_**quite **_**different from other post – Neverland one – shots. Assume that Peter Pan **_**did not **_**switch bodies with Henry, and that he is locked in Pandora 's Box.**

"Goodbye, David," Emma told him before she boarded the Jolly Roger. "Thank you for helping me save Henry. I'll never forget that."

"I could never let Pan take Henry without a fight, Emma," David replied. "I was happy to help."

Emma shrugged. She still wasn't comfortable having a family she could depend on. The idea that so many people would help save Henry was a little surprising. She supposed it was a good thing she hadn't really gotten used to having a father, though. After all, she'd never see him again once they left Neverland. He had to stay here. She'd thought for a while there might be another way to save him, but it turned out she was wrong.

"I'll miss you, Emma," he added as he hugged her goodbye. Then she walked off to the ship.

"Are you _sure_ you can't come with us Grandpa?" Henry asked as he hugged her grandfather goodbye. "I thought good always won! There has to be a way!"

David looked at his grandson and Emma listened to what he told Henry. "Good did win, Henry. We recovered your heart and locked Pan in Pandora's box. All the lost boys are free, instead of being manipulated to working for Peter Pan. But you have to understand that just because "good wins" doesn't mean we don't have to make sacrifices. Snow and I made the biggest sacrifice when we had to send Emma through the wardrobe alone. But good still won there. Look at Emma now," David waved to her and Emma waved back. David was right. Sometimes you had to make sacrifices. Sacrifices. That was what her life was about. At least Emma didn't' have to sacrifice Henry or her mother. David continued. "So it looks like this time the sacrifice is that I have to stay here. I'll be fine, Henry. Because I know my family is okay."

Henry hugged David again, whispering something, and then boarded _the Jolly Roger_, tears streaming down his face.

"Hey, Henry." Neal greeted him with a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay now, Henry" Regina smiled at him.

Henry shrugged. Emma knew she had to find a way to help him through this.

Meanwhile, it was Mary Margaret's turn to say goodbye to David. There were lots of kisses (big ones and small ones), "I love you's," and a lot of crying. Emma still couldn't believe she'd actually convinced Mary Margaret to leave.

_After they'd discussed every other possible option for David, and realized there was nothing they could do, Emma cornered her mother. "So you're really staying here?" Emma tried to keep the hurt out of her voice. She was being abandoned by her parents. Again. Why had she expected otherwise?_

_Mary Margaret sighed and nodded. "It's not something I take lightly. _Believe me _when I say being separated from you will be the hardest thing I've ever done. Next to telling David to send you through the wardrobe alone, that is. But Emma…you have Henry now. David will have _no one_ if I don't stay with him."_

_Her mother had a point, Emma admitted. It was too bad David had to stay on Neverland all by himself. It sounded lonely. Still, it was a sacrifice David was obviously willing to make. "David knows he'll have to stay here by himself. He accepts it. But he still doesn't want you to stay here with him. That's why he didn't want you to know, remember?"_

_Mary Margaret bristled at the reminder of when David kept something from her. "I remember," she grumbled. "That doesn't mean him staying here _alone _is a good idea."_

"_Well, I don't think both of my parents leaving me is a good idea, either," Emma snapped without thinking. "I've finally started to believe I have people I can depend on. Especially on…my mom." Emma hated to admit it, but it was true. She'd leaned more on Mary Margret in the last year and a half than she'd ever had on anyone. "And now she's decided I'm not important enough to stay with me. It's okay. I should be used to it." Then she covered her mouth when she finished talking. Emma couldn't believe she'd actually said that. Now her mother would pity her. "Forget I said anything." With that she'd walked off._

_But Mary Margaret ran to catch up with Emma. "No, Emma. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about it that way. I never want you to think you're not important. If you _really want _me to go back to Storybrooke with you, I will."_

_Emma shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You can do what you want." But after that, Mary Margaret was determined to go home. _

"I'm proud of you, you know," David was telling Mary Margret on the shore. He sounded like he was crying. "For going back to Storbrooke for Emma's sake. One of us should be with her. And it obviously can't be me." Mary Margaret nodded and kissed him again. Emma knew she shouldn't be spying on them. This was their private goodbye. But it was also her last chance to see David. And despite the fact that she was a lot closer to Mary Margaret than to David, it hurt that she was never going to see him again.

Finally, Mary Margaret and David gave each other one last big kiss, and she slowly boarded the ship, with tears running down her face. They were on their way home.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Emma, Regina, and Neal agreed on a schedule where Henry would stay with each of them alternating weeks. It was only fair, now that they'd each helped defeat Pan and leave Neverland. All three parents had proven to be fit to raise the boy. He stayed with Regina the first week. Emma thought that might be best, as hard as it was to be separated from him. The loft had too many reminders of when David lived with them. His jacket. The oatmeal in the cupboard which only David ate. Emma spent quite a bit of time in Granny's that week.

The next week Henry stayed with Emma. Emma played a lot of video games with him, hoping to get his mind on something else (and maybe make her happier, too). Emma tried to get Mary Margaret to play too. Sometimes she would. But it was like her mind was on something else. Emma knew it would take some time for her to live without David. But at least Emma was here to help. And Emma could depend on her mother to be there for her, too. Always. She liked that feeling.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Going to the sheriff station was hard. David had his holster and gun there. Emma missed knowing she could depend on him at work. She stared at it several times when she first when back to work. Eventually, things got busy in Storybrooke again. A group of kids were throwing rocks at Regina. That upset Henry. It actually upset Mary Margaret, too, much to Emma's surprise. Her mother's relationship with her step – mother must be changing a little. At the same time, magic trees were somehow lose in the town. She needed a deputy, as hard as it was for Emma to admit. She didn't want to replace David, but Mary Margaret insisted David would want her to be safe while she was working.

Hook volunteered. Emma knew they could be a good team from their time on the beanstalk. But she also knew Hook still wanted her. He still made constant innuendos and asked her out all the time. But Emma wasn't interested, and working with him could get awkward.

Neal volunteered as well. Emma knew they could be a good team from when they were younger. But Neal still wanted them to get back together, and Emma wasn't ready to get hurt by him again. Working with him could get awkward as well. Emma would love it Ruby would work with her again, but Ruby wasn't interested.

Finally, Mary Margaret came up with a solution. "I'll do it, Emma. I used to work with you and David often enough, anyway. And I came back so I could help you when you needed it, right?"

Emma supposed it made sense. So she and Mary Margaret went to the sheriff station together after that. They did everything Emma and David used to do. They did paperwork. They talked to grumpy citizens about complaints. They defused Mr. Gold and Hook from their latest fight. They took on magical villains. She had to admit, it wasn't so bad, working with her mother. It was too bad Emma would sometimes still catch her mother crying in the sheriff's office, but she would get over it eventually.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Three months after they'd left Neverland, Emma came downstairs to use the bathroom and heard her mother crying. She'd didn't know that was still a problem. Certainly, Emma still missed David. So did Henry. But they weren't crying about it. They were trying to move on. Mary Margaret should, too.

"I think we should get you a new bed," she told her mother the next morning. "It would probably help you move on. The bed you're using right now…it has too many memories."

"I guess," Mary Margaret replied, shrugging.

So Emma and Mary Margaret bought a new bed. It was very different from the old one. A nice wooden one. Emma hoped that would help her move on, once and for all.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Another three months later, Emma woke up to her mother crying again. _What was her problem? _ Emma wondered. Wasn't she finally starting to be happy again? Yesterday, she'd actually seen her mother smile. "I don't know why you're surprised, Mom," Henry commented, yawning as he woke up to Emma's grumbling.

"Sorry, Henry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Henry shrugged. "It's okay. But I just mean about Grandma. Grandma came back with us for your sake. And she was willing to do that. But Snow White and Prince Charming…they're not supposed to separate, Mom. Not for good, anyway. She won't be able to recover. Not fully anyway. I can hear her crying almost every night I stay here."

Emma sighed. "Go back to sleep, Henry," she told her son. But she wondered if Henry was hearing things. Almost _Every_ night he was here? Okay, so Henry wasn't here every night, but still. Why hadn't Emma heard Mary Margaret crying if it was that frequent?

OOOOOOOOOOO

A week later, Emma decided to confront her mother about it. "Henry…seems to think you're still crying regularly at night, Mary Margaret. Is that true?" she asked her carefully one morning over hot chocolate with cinnamon.

Mary Margaret looked at the floor. "I'm trying Emma. I am. I know you want me to be here for you. But…I can't help feel a big hole in my heart. Your father and I…we always find each other. And now…I don't have anywhere to look. We were supposed to spend _eternity_ together. Benefit to using True Love's Kiss. But…we didn't even get _one lifetime _together. Even when I was supposed to go through the wardrobe with you, we were only supposed to be separated temporarily." She began sobbing as she finished talking.

Eternity? Her parents were supposed to spend _eternity_ together? What did that mean? Out loud, she said, "At least you still have me. And Henry, too."

Mary Margaret smiled sadly. "Yeah. That helps." But there were tears still falling down her face.

OOOOOOOOOOO

A month later, Neal was severely injured in the crossfire of one of the magical wars. At least Henry was safe. But Emma couldn't help the horror she felt when she saw Neal fall unconscious. He had to be okay! "I love you, Neal," she kept telling him over and over as he was taken to the hospital. "I love you," she told him again as she waited for him to wake up. "You _have _to wake up. I…need you. I thought there was nothing that could make me open my heart up to you again. Not after all the pain we went through. But now I know there's a worse pain. Not seeing you again. So please…Just wake up." Emma reached over and squeezed his hand.

Finally, Neal opened his eyes. "Emma..." he croaked. "Love…you."

OOOOOOOOOO

After that, Neal slowly recovered, with Emma by his side to help him. They worked on their relationship slowly as well, much to Henry's delight. Mary Margaret seemed pleased as well. "I'm glad you're finally happy," she told her daughter, smiling. For some reason, she had to fight back tears again, though.

It took Emma a while to figure that out. But eventually, she realized that seeing Emma and Neal together made Mary Margaret think of David. Of course it did. Emma had to admit, she wished David was here to see her happy with Neal as well. But she'd accepted she'd never see him again. Would Mary Margaret _ever _move on? When they'd first got back to Storybrooke, she'd thought all her mother needed was time. But now, she wasn't so sure. It had been almost a year since they left Neverland, after all.

Emma remembered what Henry said. "Snow White and Prince Charming aren't supposed to be separated. Not for good. She won't be able to recover fully." She remembered what Mary Margaret said. "We were supposed to have _eternity_ together…But we didn't even get one lifetime together." She remembered what she'd told Neal. "There's a worse pain than being hurt again. Never seeing you again." She shuttered at the thought of not ever seeing Neal again. But wasn't that what she'd done to her parents?

When she'd first heard her mother planned to stay with her father on Neverland, she'd been angry and hurt. She thought her mother was choosing her father _over _her. She felt abandoned. Again. But now that she understood romantic love a little more, she understood better. She didn't love Neal more than she loved Henry. She just loved them differently. Emma loved spending time with Henry. But the _most important _thing to Emma was for Henry to be safe and happy. Emma wanted Neal to be safe and happy as well, of course. But the _most important_ thing for Emma was for Neal to be by her side always.

Emma tried to put off talking about it for a while. She hated to admit she was wrong, and the conversation scarred her. So she avoided Mary Margaret for a while. But finally, they were both in the sheriff's station at the same time. It was a slow day. Emma took a deep breath. "Mary Margaret?" she asked.

"Yes, Emma?" Mary Margaret sounded happy her daughter was talking to her again. She gave Emma a bright smile, although Emma noticed her mother's eyes were still red from recent crying.

"This is isn't easy for me to say. But I think I…made a mistake."

"With what?" Mary Margaret asked, confused. "The paperwork? That's what white – out if for."

"No." Emma shook her head. "I mean…when I told you to come home with us from Neverland."

Mary Margaret looked at Emma, obviously shocked.

"I thought you were choosing David over me," Emma admitted softly. "But you weren't, were you? You just knew I had everything I needed to be safe and happy in Storybrooke. Friends. Henry. Magic to protect myself. I even have Neal again now. And…you and David belong together. Always."

Mary Margaret nodded. "That's what I thought at the time," she admitted as well. "But _you_ made it clear that you needed _me_ here to be happy, too Emma. So I'm here. For you."

Emma shook her head. "I'm happy you're here with me," she replied. "But I'm _not _happy you're still upset. I thought you could move on. I didn't really understand what was between you and David….I mean what's between you and _Dad, Mom._ You're still crying at night, aren't you?"

Mary Margaret lit up with joy at the name, but she nodded.

"I think we should find a way for you to get back there," Emma concluded.

"How?" Mary Margaret protested. "We don't have any more beans. Jefferson's hat is gone. The wardrobe is _long_ gone."

Emma smiled at her. "There has to be a way. Let's find one. I'm sure Henry would be happy to be in on the operation."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Henry was indeed overjoyed to be in on "Operation Jungle," as he called it. (Because Neverland was like a big jungle, he explained.) Eventually they found a plan. Their new resident, Ariel was an old friend of Mary Margaret's from the Enchanted Forest. And she had the power to open portals in the water. "I'll be happy to help you find your prince," Ariel told her. "I'll never forget you helping me with mine."

So it was agreed that Ariel would take Mary Margaret back to Neverland. Everyone was sad to see her go but understood she needed her prince to be happy.

"Thank you, Emma. I love you," Mary Margaret told her, with tears in her eyes for a different reason. "Are you sure?"

Emma looked at Neal and Henry, who could keep her happy in Storybrooke. She felt her gun and her magic which would keep her safe. "I'm sure, _Mom. _Tell _Dad _I miss him, too." She did. Emma may have accepted she had to live without her father, but she'd always miss him. Just like she'd always miss her mother.

"Be happy, Emma," Mary Margaret added as she hugged her goodbye.

"You too," Emma replied.

"I'll miss you Grandma. But you belong with Grandpa. Tell him I said hi," Henry added, hugging her as well.

"I will, Henry."

OOOOOOOOOOO

It was hard for Emma, with both of her parents gone. But Emma knew she'd done the right thing. And she had Neal and Henry. Neal, who had just accepted the deputy job. Partners again, just like old times. Only this time it was _for _the law instead of against it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

OOOOOOOO

"Make sure to hold your breath," Ariel warned. "This is going to take a little while." So Mary Margaret held her breath and they dove deep into the water. The mermaid swam for what it seemed like hours. Mary Margaret was just beginning to think she couldn't hold her breath anymore when they finally surfaced. Nearby was a familiar – looking island, although it was amazing how much less threatening the island looked without Peter Pan controlling it. "There you go, Snow," Ariel told her. "I'm sure you can find him from here?"

"Of course," Mary Margaret replied. With that she said goodbye to her friend and made her way to the island. She found Charming quite easily. He was held up in Neal's old hideout. "Hi Charming," she said to him as she walked in.

"I must be seeing things," he muttered to himself. "Being alone all this time has finally driven me crazy."

So Mary Margaret walked right up to him and planted a big kiss on his lips. Gosh, did he taste good. She'd forgotten how wonderful it felt to kiss him. So she kissed him again.

When they were finally done, David grinned. "Snow," he kept saying over and over again as he ran his hands up and down her body.

"Do you still think you're seeing things, Charming?" she teased him.

"No, but I don't understand how this is possible."

"Ariel brought me back."

"But what about Emma? I thought we agreed one of us needed to stay with her?" David protested.

Snow shrugged. "It was her idea that I come back here. I'll miss her, but Emma is going to be fine in Storybrooke, Charming. She has her magic and her gun to defend herself, plus a whole group of friends to help. She has Henry. She even has Neal, because she's started opening her heart to him again. But…I wasn't' doing too well without you, and Emma noticed it. So she suggested I come back. And now we'll never have to be separated again." With that she kissed him again.

"Well, in that case, are you hungry?" I was going to find some berries."

"Sounds, good," Snow replied, taking her husband's hand. "Foraging again. Sounds like old times." Speaking of Emma, she told me to tell you she missed you, too. _Dad._ And Henry says 'hi.''

David nodded, looking bittersweet as he thought of the family members they were missing. "Good to know."


End file.
